Pentax ME Super

The Pentax ME Super improved upon the original ME by introducing two push buttons on the top plate allowing the user to electronically dial in the desired shutter speed, giving him or her much more flexibility when shooting manually. This design was later carried over to the ME F (Pentax's first autofocus camera) and the Super A (which could set the aperture automatically and hence provided Tv and Program automation in addition to the Av and M exposure modes of the ME Super).

Other improvements over the ME was a faster top shutter speed of 1/2000 s and a warning light in the view finder when EV compensation was engaged.

Variants:
PENTAX ME Super: The original
PENTAX ME Super SE: A 'Special Edition' version was released in later years, featuring a diagonal split screen rather than a horizontal one

This was my first SLR, bought new after some research. I knew I wanted auto with manual overide. I found the having to take it down from my eye to check aperture a bit frustrating, and the shutter speed buttons seem a bit fiddly and gimmicky looking back on it (Pentax wanted to look "modern"?). However it was perfectly satisfactory as far as it went. I took some good pictures with it and was inspired to move up to an LX after a year.

I have borrowed or owned a few MES cameras over the years. Some have been sold due to pressing economic need or to finance another camera purchase. One was unfortunately dropped and stopped working, and my latest developed a wind on problem. For a long time the MES was my joint favourite film camera (the other a Mjnolta XE1). I still love them though I now am starting to prefer the MX. Tastes change.
Anyway these cameras are the dogs b*******ks! The size, light weight and feel, smooth wind, on huge bright viewfinder, excellent metering display and sturdiness of the body are the major points in its favour.
The manual metering control system is both a plus and a minus. Using the buttons to control shutter speed when the camera is at eye level is dead easy, but when you pick the camera up you have n't a clue what speed its set at! The control ring is also a little fiddly changing from lock (at least it has one) to AE to manual etc. An aperture window in the viewfinder would be nice as would AE lock and DofF preview. The Super A addresses many of these quibbles but not the AE lock nor fiddley control ring and despite sharing the same basic chassis manages not to feel quite so good in hand.
The major plus of the camera is of course it small size. with a small m series prime attached you can carry it around your neck all day with no. ache. You can carry it over one shoulder under a coat or jacket and no one will know you are carrying it and keep it safe from any bad weather.
Yes they can become a little unreliable in their old age, after all they are now over 30 years old, but most faults can be fixed, which is certainly worth having done and you can have many more years of service from them. My wind on fault complete with a service cost Ģ80. The camera is now like new.
So in summary then a super little SLR which is highly recommended!

This camera has the perfect weight. Doesn't bother me when it's dangling from my shoulder & is nice and stable when shooting. I normally only take the 28mm (f 3.5 K version - yes!) and just leave it on the body. Shooting makes a lot less noise than with my old friend, the KX. The ME definitely is more suitable for street photography.
It feels less reliable than my KX though, even though I've not had any problems.
AND it's dirt cheap - mine came with the 28-80mm Takumar zoom and a motor drive (neither of which I've ever used) for the euro equivalent of $35, including the cost of the mail. I've had to renew the seals and clean the ground glass, which had remains of the old seals stuck to it. Removing the old gum was done in two minutes. Actually, alcohol did the job
For the price I've paid I will gladly buy a second ME, just to have a spare in case one of them dies.

This review assumes that the ME Super is in good working condition - the vast majority of those still around today are not. Since I originally wrote this the light meter in mine has become completely unreliable, a typical problem with the electronics of these cameras.

The only thing really missing from the ME Super is a DoF preview button. Apart from that, it's my favourite of the smaller Pentaxes. I like the bigger, more solid K series but their viewfinders are considerably smaller and darker. The ME Super is much smaller and lighter, and with the fantastic viewfinder and good range of shutter speeds, it's the best all-rounder of my film cameras.

The shutter sound is wonderful.

I see a lot of threads in photo forums about ME Supers not working properly and of the three I have, only one works. One of the non-working ones was bought on ebay very cheap and was no great loss, the other I knew was broken but I wanted the lenses it came with. My point is this - don't ever spend more than $5 on an ME Super unless you've tested it to make sure it works. Most of the ones out there are broken in one way or another.

The only important negative aspect is that it has no stop-down button.
So I use the ME-Super only for photography in dark light when I use to have the apperture wide open. At night I donīt need a stop-down button. But I need a bright control-interface in the viewfinder. The LED-Interface of the ME-Super is perfect. It shows everything that I need and nothing more.

(For daylight I use the Pentax K2.
It has a stop-down button. It has a needle-interface in the viewfinder which I prefer to LED, but it is not illuminated - so its very bad in dark light).

For me - the combination of ME-Super and K2 is a perfect combination. I always take these two bodys with two different kinds of film - one for night and one for day.

I started my camera journey with a Canon point and shoot, then moved on the my father's EOS 100 with 28-80 and used that for a few years. At the time I was doing a lot of mountaineering and the bulk of the EOS, as well as having to molly coddle it, became wearisome. I saw a ME Super in Jessops shop window with M50 f2.0 and ever ready case, so I picked it up, sold the Canon and never regretted it. Soon picked up and M28 f2.8 as well. Eventually i went digital with Olympus 4/3 before coming back to Pentax with K5.

Anyway, about the ME Super, not much can be added that hasn't been said. i found the shutter buttons a bit fiddly, and the combined iso/exposure comp dial meant you couldn't dial in +/- at the iso extremes.

The camera had a few bumps and knocks under my stewardship. One knock bent inwards the metal ring around the iso dial where the viewing cutout was, locking it in place. A quick tap with a hammer and screwdriver soon had it straightened out!

I remember the M lenses were a joy to focus on this camera.

O sold the camera only last year during a massive clear out - i wish I hadn't, for all I got for it! In fact I've been inspired to write a review as I'm finding myself drawn to aquiring another K mount manual camera...

my first PENTAX camera.
still in use for more than 13 years!
not expensive, lightweight and very accurate light metering, useful AUTO mode.
just set dial at AUTO and choose aperture setting, and it is work.

very clear and big enough viewfinder.
I love it!
recommended if You still using film and manual lenses.

Mine was my Christmas present in 1982, replacing my Zenit EM. It came with an excellent SMC 50mm f1.7 lens and a free book!
The viewfinder is MASSIVE and very bright.
I have recently replaced all of the foam rubber light seals and put some rolls of film through it. It seemed odd, at first, not seeing my images appear on the back of the camera but I soon got used to using film again.
Anyway, after 30 years my ME-Super is still going strong! Unlike my mates Canon T90, which died 15 years ago.

Instead of writing about how good this camera is, I would like to explain why I love this camera.

I start saying that I bought 3 of these: the first was given to my girlfriend, the second was sold to make money and the third was bought since I need a film camera that should be intuitive, compact and reliable.

I've bought this for about 60$ and that is the black model (I think that there is nothing diffetent comparing this with the classic silver version).

What impressed me was first of all the long battery life of the camera: on previous cameras (minolta and canon), it died very quickly. Now are months that I don't change battery and this is, for me, an important thing.

Second: how you feel it in your hands. I have big hands, however I can act and set shutterspeed very fastly.

I've owned my ME Super since I bought it new in late 1981 - and love it. It came with the 50mm M 1.7 lens (which I still have). The ME Super is a great camera that teaches you to shoot aperture priority since it's Auto mode works off the aperture ring input/setting.

I've used this camera for so long it's hard to criticize it, but I've never loved the tiny white button that must be pressed to allow turning the selector ring from Auto to off (Lock) and a DoF button would be nice. I find the camera is easy to load and think it's best not to rush winding (advancing) the film - but maybe that's just me. My camera eventually succumbed to the years and the shutter froze up. In 2013 I paid to have the camera overhauled with a new shutter assembly, new light seals, clean/lube and the meter calibrated. If you can find a good copy of this camera that has been overhauled properly it should last for a long time. If you have to have this done you could expect to pay around $140 to get it back to new.

The ME Super is not as common as the K1000 but they're still easy to find. Back in the day I wanted the Winder but never bought one. I'm over it now as I just enjoy the camera the way it was designed. I love the mechanical sound of the shutter, love the design and the look and find the meter easy to use.

UPDATE - June, 2014:

I have since inherited my dad's ME Super and some of his accessories. I had his camera overhauled as it needed seals, cleaning and they checked the meter (and found it was good). My dad bought this camera new and used it a lot over the years. I was surprised how good the internals were. The repair/overhaul cost a little under $60. I was happy to get the auto winder my dad bought new (it's in very nice condition). I don't know what I'll do with two ME Supers, but since they both have emotional attachment, I'll keep them.

If you're like me and have a leg in the film world and the other in the DSLR world I would recommend putting together a film kit. I have a "film bag (backpack)" with my ME Super and ZX-M along with three lenses: 50mm, 28mm and a 135mm. When I want to shoot film I can just grab and go.

I had been using Nikon for a long time, and always loved my trusty Nikkormat FT3. After borrowing a Pentax ME Super with a few M42 and K lenses, I realized this puppy with a Super Takumar 135mm f/3.5 on it weighed less than my Nikon body alone. The weight balanced out when I put a 200mm on the Pentax, and a 50mm f/2 on the Nikon. This thing will feel weightless around your neck if you're used to cameras and lenses like that.

Size is a personal thing, so it shouldn't effect reviews too much. This is tiny, but fits perfectly in my small-ish hands. Personally, with small fingertips, the buttons for shutter speed are easier than a knob. The lock mode is fantastic, not sure why it's not on every camera. The shutter priority auto makes shooting so simple and easy-- just be sure to use exposure compensation on the rewind side when necessary and it'll take fantastic pictures.

As a camera for M42 lenses, this is perfect. Compose, switch the diaphragm to manual (DOF preview this way, too!), set shutter and click, or just click in auto, switch back to auto. Very quick and easy.

Unfortunately, I struggle a bit if I'm trying to gauge DOF with fast K glass, and usually have to pull the camera away from my face several times to check the focus scale. This only bothers me about 20% of the time, though.

Also, the metering and compensation are only in full stops. If I were really picky, I guess I could do that by changing the ISO dial, though.

If you're thinking about getting one of these, go for it. $40 for a good one on the 'FleaBay' from a 'camera shop', or just get one for $10 that only cocks the shutter every now and then-- give it a few slaps on its butt and it'll be up and running again.

Example images coming soon (shoot B&W and print with an enlarger, mostly; no film scanner.... yet) but pseudo-irrelevant for a camera body.

EDIT: D'OH! I was just informed the you don't have to turn the EV Compensation dial all the way, so it can be set to any fractions of stops... Metering is still only in full stops, though =/

Back in 1976, when the MX and ME came out, I did not even consider the ME. It had to be manual for me. I have an inherent desire for simplicity and control where possible It was the MX I chose. Last year, while buying a lens, it came attached to an ME Super. I really wasn't interested in it, but there it was. It was in near mint condition, so I thought a film test would be informative.
Quite honestly, the camera was lovely to use, and did all I wished using the auto settings. This made it too much extra hassle to bother with manual, especially using buttons and checking settings in the view finder.
The camera is beautifully made, and if you like the automation of aperture priority shooting, it can't be faulted. My own preferences are for fully manual cameras, and their simplicity which demand more input from the photographer. That makes taking a picture more interesting - and isn't that something that is an important part of photography, at least for the hobbyist?
This is probably the smallest 35mm SLR, and beautifully made. It is/was very popular. My preference for manual cameras should not detract from that.

no DoF preview, buttons can be operated only with an eye on the finder, doesn't have a K-A mount, limited ISO range (not for me really), compensation only in full stops (use ISO ring for more precise setting)

Well this is a nice cam! I bought it ridiculously cheap in an auction. It's a bit worn but functional. Only someone managed to slightly bend the hotshoe, so it needs to be bend back or replaced for using flash. Doesn't matter for me though. I like the viewfinder. The camera lacks some more "pro" features, but that's not what you want from a manual film SLR these days - that's something you have a DSLR for. Still I'm thinking about replacing it with an MX some day. Mainly for its even smaller body and even better finder. But this is a great camera that won't dissapoint you.